†〰†

Davina's Orphan Asylum was the only running children's home in over ten districts. The city it was located in, Shangina, was one of the lucky areas to remain untouched by the attacks that ravished North.

Nestled between two mountains, the institution sat on a high valley. Shielded by the mountain peaks and high cloud cover, no one could find it unless they knew where to look and the right path to take. This was the reason it was one of the most secure orphanages in the nation.

The security of the next generation was it's top priority, and that, in fact, was it's motto. And as a result of that, out of it's three hundred inhabitants, only one-third of the children were orphans.

Due to the high level of education provided by the teaching personnel, influential parents had extended their resources to obtain spots for their children in the institution-but of course, orphans got in for free.

Davina's Orphan Asylum was a steady placer in the top ten most successful learning institutions ranking. It was one of the main producers of North's most prestigious cadets.

Looking prim and proper, and dressed in the crisp uniform of the Asylum, three students with apparently nothing to do sat sprawled around a table among the many in one of the several cafeterias that littered the third level of the orphanage.

"What is he doing? And why is it taking so long?" One of them groaned, hopping off the table and stumbling into an empty chair while ignoring the curious looks thrown his way from the other tables. "I've been watching him for hours now."

"Twenty minutes, Keith," the other boy answered, his arms crossed as he corrected his fellow student's exaggeration. "And Eddy is doing our homework."

Keith raised an eyebrow, sending a playful bow to the girls passing by their table. The flock of females giggled and curtsied before straightening up, smoothing their turquoise skirts and scampering off to occupy one of the numerous tables that took up space in the large hall.

"Really, Esau?" Keith clicked his tongue in disapproval. "That's low."

Esau crossed his legs and shrugged, still seating on the table and watching Edythe scribble away. He could tell that she was hating every minute of the conversation.

He looked up at Keith and grinned, pushing his fingers through the short crop of hair that all male students of the Asylum wore. The same style that Edythe wore. "They can't prove anything."

By 'they' he meant Sister Agnes, president of the disciplinary board and a former high ranking member of the Order before it collapsed.

"They could recover this very conversation. I could be a spy," Keith argued, then as though remembering something, added, "and call me Key. All my friends call me Key."

At this point, Edythe raised her head, setting a glare on the boy. "We are not friends."

She lifted up the two hologram tablets she had been writing on. They were paper thin, transparent and solid. "I'm done."

Esau watched his sister with an dispassionate gaze, eying the time stamp above the assessments. "Barely in time."

Keith let out a quiet laugh. "Your twin is getting red, Esau."

Dressed in the uniform meant for boys and with her hair styled to match Esau's, Edythe looked almost identical to her brother. Their resemblance was to the point that it would be almost impossible to different them if Edythe decided to dye her hair blonde. And she had.

Her fiery locks had been hidden beneath a layer of technological cloaking that could be reversed at anytime she chose.

When they had stumbled into the orphanage three months ago, she had been mistaken as a boy and led into the same dressing room as Esau. Since every process was mechanized, after being cleaned up they had been left alone with the computer. The AI had judged Edythe as Esau's twin, and that was correct, but it had dressed her as a boy since that was what it was programmed to do. The clothes and haircut were preset and could not be altered but it was an easy affair to change something as simple as hair color.

When the elderly woman that had found them at the orphanage's doorstep came back to log them into the system, Esau had announced their names as Esau and Eddy Yong, thinking it would be nice to toy with the poor woman as she made her own assumptions while they found a way to escape to the capital.

Three months later and they were still here. Edythe was still a boy and the Asylum's authorities were none the wiser.

"That's because he's hungry." Esau retorted, jabbing his finger into Edythe's side.

"Ow," she said dully, setting down the tablets and throwing Esau a scowl.

"He's right though." She turned back to Keith. "I am hungry."

"Yeah, yeah." Keith rolled his eyes then leaned forward, his tone conspirational. "Aren't you pissed that he's using you like this?"

Edythe shrugged, tapping on the controls at the center of the table and ordering for food. "Not really."

"You guys always get the same scores every week," he continued, "don't you think that you're pushing your luck? Eventually you'll get kicked out."

Esau and Edythe shared a look and scratched the back of their heads, simultaneously answering the older boy. "They can't prove that we're cheating."

Keith remained silent for a moment before sighing. "You know Davina is my aunt, right?"

Who doesn't know? Esau smiled wryly.

Keith was friends with everybody at the orphanage but them, and that wasn't an exaggeration. He was friends with students in all Units.

He was in the fourth Unit which was meant for students from twelve to fourteen, and Esau and Edythe had just entered his class. They were the only children he hadn't befriended and it unnerved him.

"Yes, we know." Edythe finally spoke up as an Android levitating their food above its palms arrived.

"She could know about this."

"Doesn't matter." Esau cut in before lunging at the food like a starved animal. "She can't prove it."

"You just said," Keith tried to argue.

Edythe picked her order off the tray before Esau's fork could reach it. "We could have been messing with you."

"Doesn't explain the same test scores in class." Keith said with a huff as he watched the twins eat.

"It could be luck." Esau snapped, finally annoyed. "Why do you care so much?"

"Because the professions test is coming up and the military will be all over the Asylum from now on." The eleven year old spat back.

"Are you sure that you aren't just upset that we skipped second Unit and breezed into your class?" Edythe said as she played with the greens on her plate, a lazy air to her movements.

"You-!"

"Come on, Esau." She stood up, sending Keith a dismissive glance, "we need to go and read for tomorrow's test."

"The test is today!" Keith shot out of his seat, his voice loud enough for the whole cafeteria to hear. "And why bother, we all know that you're going to cheat again!"

All eyes turned to the three of them, the hall turning deadly silent as Esau scarfed down the peas on his sister's plate, paying no mind to what was happening around him.

"Prove it." Edythe hissed, grabbing her twin's collar and dragging him away from her leftovers.

The whole cafeteria watched in silence as the two newest orphans to join them stormed out and left behind a furious Keith.

Esau and Eddy were a pair of nine year olds that their teachers praised as geniuses and disciplinarians hated with a passion. From being in the second Unit, the class meant for eight to ten year olds, they had gotten the qualifications to enter the fourth Unit in just three months, and now they were going to take the fifth Unit assessment exam along with them. And yet at the same time the twins had performed another miracle, passing written assessments with the exact same scores and almost identical answers.

If that wasn't cheating then it had to be magic. . .

†〰†

Hey guys!

Thank you for completing Cipher Code!

If you enjoyed the journey (hopefully you did) then I just wanted to tell you that it isn't over!

As of now, Cipher Code is still a draft so this is an unedited version, hence it might have some incontinuity, plot holes, and might drag in some places. But I'll get it all fixed, eventually.

There's a SEQUEL now, with 30 chapters ready for you to sink your fangs into.

The title is Code Bound (and it's right there on my profile), and as with all things, you can choose to read it now, or wait for it to get completed, or not read it at all lol ;)

But here's the summary!

“Aliens are real, but they never came from outer space.

   They called themselves the Genet, a once extinct race of folkpeople with magic that shouldn't exist. And half a year after their first attempt at invading the Earth, they reappeared with an ultimatum.

   Either their long lost princess was released back to them or the several influential figures that they had captured in the war months before would be publicly executed.

   As the main military force of the world, the Northern nation, under the rule of Dawn Draekon, is tasked with the job of locating and rescuing the hostages before the execution could take place. But with diminished armies and traumatized soldiers, luck is not on their side.

   So the Northern council, after deliberating on options, risk a fall in public opinion and do the unthinkable. They decide to use children to make up the numbers.

   Talented cadets below the age of twenty are now the only hope the world has against a renewed alien invasion.”

Does it sound interesting? If it does, then check it out.

Hugs and cyber-kisses

The Author.